--- a/README.markdown Sat Mar 09 19:10:05 2019 -0500
+++ b/README.markdown Fri Apr 12 20:37:14 2019 -0400
@@ -285,3 +285,55 @@
Finished The Character of Physical Law by Feynman. A bunch went over my head,
but it was still a good read.
+
+# April 2019
+
+## 2019-04-12
+
+My [MakerLisp Machine](https://makerlisp.com/) arrived. Going to put it
+together and brain dump along the way.
+
+I had previously downloaded and extracted `makerlisp.zip`, and committed the
+result into a Mercurial repo. Just to be safe I wanted to see if it had been
+updated since a couple of days ago. I downloaded it again, moved it into the
+repo, and then `rm -rf src doc RELEASE` and `unzip makerlisp.zip`. Then an `hg
+diff` showed me the changes. Maybe this process could be made easier (e.g. by
+just letting me clone the git repo?) but it's easy enough to script up if
+necessary.
+
+Used my new SD card reader to get at the SD card. It was FAT32 as expected, so
+nothing to mess around with there. Had to first get it mounted, and of course
+mounting anything is a giant pain in the ass on Linux. I miss MacOS. Ended up
+using `udisksctl mount -b /dev/sdc1` to mount the thing without dicking around
+with `fstab`. Then `cp -rt /media/sjl/…mountpoint…/ src/uSDimage/*` to actually
+copy the files. It was pretty fast. `udisksctl unmount -b /dev/sdc1` to eject.
+
+Installed the battery.
+
+Wiring up the VGA controller and USB keyboard controller. Almost messed up
+— the RX pin goes to PD0 and the C pin goes to PB1. Note it's D and B, not the
+same letter!
+
+VGA cable is quite beefy, not perfect for routing around everything. But it
+does the job.
+
+After connecting everything and plugging it in, it works! The screen looks
+a little odd because there appear to be two prompts. I wonder if the graphics
+mode is wonky.
+
+Had some issues getting the keyboard working:
+
+* The documentation says to make sure the RX jumper isn't connected. The board
+ came this way, so that was fine.
+* But the board came with the TX jumper jumped, and I had to *remove* that to
+ get the keyboard to work.
+* Then I tried to use some other USB keyboards, because the 40% one is just too
+ painful to type on. The Realforce 104 worked fine, but my HHKB and my UHKs
+ didn't work at all. They're getting power (they light up) but typing doesn't
+ work at all.
+
+Setting the time and date worked great. They persist across restarts and such.
+
+After evaluating some stuff, the screen seems to be garbled. Not sure exactly
+what I need to do/configure to get the screen working properly. Evaluating
+`(cls)` does clear the screen back to the beginning, so I can use that for now.